TSA: Goon Squads At The Bus Station...Police State, Here We Come
Paul Joseph Watson writes for Prison Planet that Big Sis has started a program with the TSA and police officers to search and interrogate passengers on Houston buses. Democratic Congresswoman and national embarrassment Sheila Jackson Lee unveiled the program, labeled Bus Safe, at a Friday press conference:

According to a Metropolitan Transit Authority of Houston (METRO) press release, agencies involved in the scheme will, "ride buses, perform random bag checks, and conduct K-9 sweeps, as well as place uniformed and plainclothes officers at Transit Centers and rail platforms to detect, prevent and address latent criminal activity or behavior."

"While local law enforcement agencies focus on overall safety measures noted above, representatives with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will also be on hand, lending their counter-terrorism expertise and support during the exercise," states the press release.

"If you think you're going to be a bad actor on buses, get ready. You are going to have a short-lived time frame," Jackson Lee said during the press conference. The Congresswoman is a staunch advocate of the TSA, having recently chastised the passage of a new law that allows airports to evict TSA agents and replace them with private screeners by claiming it would lead to a new 9/11-style attack.

From the press release, let's emphasize this:

While local law enforcement agencies focus on overall safety measures noted above, representatives with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will also be on hand, lending their counter-terrorism expertise and support during the exercise.

And this:

The move to monitor and curtail crime on buses and trains is just one component of a much larger initiative called BusSafe - a national pilot program created by a peer advisory group of mass transit police chiefs and security directors, and one which METRO's Police Department is adopting to enhance safety on the system.

"Safety"?

What about safety for our Constitutional rights?

Random bag checks? Turn the clock back to 1999. Think about how you'd react if you heard your bag would be checked simply because you needed to take a bus to work. Your need to travel is not evidence you've committed a crime; it merely suggests you're employed.

All of you who are keeping quiet about the TSA and now this, who think it's no big deal...note that the police state searches have crept out of the airport. And note that they'll continue their creep as long as people taking for granted their constitutional rights say and do nothing.

More from the InfoWars piece:

According to Phillip Levine of the Houston Free Thinkers blog, shortly after Lee gave her press conference the operation went straight into effect, with DHS and Metro Police officers questioning passengers who were exiting buses about their destinations and their reasons for riding the bus.

"When I arrived at Wheeler I got off the stage and instantly noticed the massive police presence. The police presence consisted of DHS, metro police, HPD, TSA, and Harris county police officers. They were going on to buses searching and stopping people for questions. Apparently Sheila Jackson Lee was there pushing for more security like what I was viewing. I asked the TSA agent if there was gonna be a bigger presence of metro or TSA. He said both," Levine said in an email.

This is a wake-up call for Americans who had hoped to avoid being harassed by TSA agents by not using airports.

TSA agents are now being used to literally occupy America with an expansion of the 9,000 plus checkpoints that were already operational last year. 12 more TSA VIPR teams (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) will be added to the 25 who are already present at transportation hubs throughout the country.

Derrick Broze posted at the Houston Free Thinkers link above:

Now more than ever we must educate our brothers and sisters on their own importance in the current Awakening. Protest, make videos, write letters, prepare, vote for freedom candidates. We must push for the ideas of freedom, voluntary association, and mutual benefit in every avenue we have available. Continue to push for freedom everywhere you go and do not submit.

Comments

Each generation has thought they were above the sort of thing that wrecked their entire nation.

The ugly solution today is to Twitter and Facebook the IDs of the incompetent goons at work.

They're going to "out" a Concealed Carry Permit holder from basic stupidity. Maybe a hundred of them, and the nation will reel in shock that qualified, intelligent persons who do not wear uniforms (you know, that magic raiment conveying godlike discretion and abilities?) carry guns.

And then SJ-L will notice that TSA has to bust a bunch of black people, and she'll clamor to put a halt to that...

Radwaste
at April 18, 2012 2:54 AM

This is SO not right. But here in the NYC metro area, I hear it's only a matter of time before they have the TSA riding the commuter trains. There are already military personnel with dogs in Grand Central Terminal, which is okay, I guess, as long as they're not getting on the trains unless there's been an alert of some sort. I can't wait until I get my concealed carry permit.

Flynne
at April 18, 2012 5:53 AM

TSA is the new workfare. Jackson-Lee is dumb as a post and people who vote for her can't get real jobs, so she expands a federal program.

KateC
at April 18, 2012 6:33 AM

Flynne - I guess you heard the talk about giving tasers to bus drivers and subway conductors in NYC. Now, That is something that is going to go real bad and soon.

I know, Charles. This can only get worse. Giving tasers to people who aren't trained how to use them properly is just the first ingredient in a recipe for disaster.

Flynne
at April 18, 2012 7:33 AM

"And then SJ-L will notice that TSA has to bust a bunch of black people, and she'll clamor to put a halt to that..."
...My initial thought is that if her constituents are paying attention, this could very well get her voted out of office. This is Texas, y'all, and people with money don't need to ride the bus. So this will disproportionately affect the idiots who voted for her.

ahw
at April 18, 2012 7:35 AM

This will likely backfire for the congresswoman. Because on in many urban cities a predominance of users and criminal occurrences on transit systems are African Americans. Good old Sheila does not know it but she is re imaging an old racist practice - back of the bus. But with TSA approval back of the bus version 2.

I can actually see more middle class people liking this. As using the TSA to keep buses safe, it will prevent many lower income people to use the transit systems to come into higher income areas. With police and undercover officers the bus systems probably will be come safer. When bus system become safer then more people will use. Still not all buses can be covered.

But of course if political correctness comes in, then "officers" will be told to not concentrate too much on minorities. Then all it will take is some banger with a grudge and gun to create an incident.

This will be interesting to see.

John Paulson
at April 18, 2012 7:57 AM

FDR had the WPA, BHO expands TSA (and IRS, and EPA, and...). Gotta get those employment figures up somehow.

When was the last time a bus was blown up by terrorists (excepting Israel, that is)?

According to a Metropolitan Transit Authority of Houston (METRO) press release, agencies involved in the scheme will, "ride buses, perform random bag checks, and conduct K-9 sweeps, as well as place uniformed and plainclothes officers at Transit Centers and rail platforms to detect, prevent and address latent criminal activity or behavior." [emphasis added]

Latent? I wonder what they mean by that? Wasn't there a Tom Cruise movie a few years back where psychics were used to predict crime before it happened?

Old RPM Daddy
at April 18, 2012 10:19 AM

How are these asses going to address "latent" criminal tendencies without putting themselves in jail?

Radwaste
at April 18, 2012 4:43 PM

'Random bag checks', really? "You want to dig through my bag, officer? Where's your warrant? You really want to argue this in court?", etc. TSA can play "We have the power!" games(still want to see them dragged into court), but for a PD to say "You're on a bus so we don't need a warrant"... Lawsuits in the future. Big ones.

I am so effing sick of "We want you to be safe so we're going to rape you of your rights" bullcrap. And the dirtbags pushing it. Lee should be thrown out of office for violating her oath to support and uphold the Constitution.

According to Phillip Levine of the Houston Free Thinkers blog, shortly after Lee gave her press conference the operation went straight into effect, with DHS and Metro Police officers questioning passengers who were exiting buses about their destinations and their reasons for riding the bus.

These numbskulls were questioning people getting OFF the buses??? Just goes to show you that if government weren't so stupid, it would merely be incompetent. I hope some passengers said "None of your damn business."